What is it about?
This paper describes empathy by way of basic principles of behavior. It illustrates how empathy can be both developed and maintained using classic and operant conditioning. Further, it is shown how this approach to empathy can be used in both clinical and experimental settings; from humans to rats.
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Why is it important?
The theory put forth in this paper is different than much research on empathy in that it shows how empathetic responding can be developed and maintained via basic principles of behavior. It is a novel alternative that is meant to supplement the existing theories of empathy.
Perspectives
As I was doing my PhD thesis I could not fail to notice how much research on empathy included concepts that were hard to observe in non-human animals (e.g., motivation, and perspective taking). Additionally, many of the descriptions of empathy did not include a measure of behavior (Cuff et al., 2016). As such I wanted to see if it was possible to make a conceptualization of empathy that did not rely on earlier ideas of empathy but which still could serve a purpose and be a novel addition. In other words, empathy based on behavior. From those thoughts, and the great collaboration with my co-authors Dr. Steffen Hansen, this paper was born.
Magnus Blystad
Oslo New University College
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Empathy or not empathy, that’s the question—A pragmatic behavior analytical approach., Behavior Analysis Research and Practice, May 2022, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/bar0000242.
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